ARCHITECTURE/MECHATRONICS

CONCEPTUAL STUDENT PROJECT

COLLABORATION:

Kama Kośka

Łukasz Iwan

Leszek Włochyński

Dorota Adamowicz

WARSAW

2012

City Carpet

City Carpet is a conceptual student project situated at the intersection of architecture and mechatronics. The project combines the kinetic, performative aspects of design with basics of robotics. City Carpet is the proposal answer for design problem of recharging point for electrics vehicles, set to explore conceptual construction of responsive environments, in order to improve the quality of live and urban infrastructure. The goal of design process was to create a kind of a shelter for EV recharging points, that closes its surface above the car and creates inside a specific, relaxing conditions and makes a visible representation of EV recharging process in the city.

City Carpet is a modular tessellated structure and might be adopted to different plots, but the initial location for this concept was a degradated parking space at Konstytucji square in Warsaw. At the beginning, the idea was based on a rigid origami folding concept, finally it evolved to a kinetic fabric based on rigid triangles and articulated nodes. The whole is supported by pillars moving in vertical direction. Several alternative sequences of movement are provided in the prototype model. The mechanism is controlled by Arduino programmable controller.